Carlo Rambaldi, creator of ET, passes away

15th August 2012, 17:05

The man behind ET, Alien and other special effects triumphs, has died at the age of 86 after a long illness.

Carlo Rambaldi, the special effects master behind films like ET: The Extra Terrestrial , has died at the age of 86. John Williams' soundtrack to ET has long been a favourite with Classic FM listeners, appearing at no. 31 in last year's Movie Music Chart.

Rambaldi was renowned for his work in horror films like Ridley Scott's Alien and the movies of Italian horror master Dario Argento. He also worked on the 1976 version of King Kong , which won him an Academy Award.

His introduction to cinema was a little less auspicious, providing the effects for a low-budget Italian sic-fi movie in 1956. He soon caught the attention of producer Dino De Laurentiis, who commissioned him to work on King Kong .